Carlos Alcaraz and the “head, heart and balls” formula that never ceases to accompany him

The triumph of Carlos Alcaraz inside Open Argentina confirmed that the Spaniards feel at home in this tournament. And is that the Murcian is the seventh player from that country to lift the trophy on the brick dust of the lawn tennisAfter David ferrer (on three occasions), Carlos Moia (2), Rafael Nadal, Nicolas Almagro, Tommy Robredo and his coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero. In the last 15 editions (in which there has been only one Argentine champion, Diego Schwartzman, in 2021), the trophy has been in Spanish hands eight times.

Similarly, Carlitos made his mark in the Buenos Aires contest, as he became the youngest tennis player to win the title, bettering the Norwegian’s score Casper Ruudwho was 21 when he won in 2020. Another precocity record for the short but impressive career of the world number two, who still prefers to ignore these data.

“I work every day on a mental level not to lose focus. And I try not to put myself under that pressure of being the youngest to win a tournament or the youngest to reach number 1. I go out on the court to have a good time and I try always to improve. That’s my goal,” he said.

The Spaniard has said several times in the past that his opening sentence is the one that his grandfather Carlos repeated to him as a child: “Head, Heart and Balls”. And yesterday, with the trophy in your hands, you reiterated: “The three things are important. You don’t have to leave any of them aside. You have to have a little bit of each to win a title.”

And thinking about the rest of this 2023, he assured: “I am defending various titles and many points. I will fight for the number 1 with Novak Djokovic, Stefanos Tsitsipas and many other players who have the level to achieve great things. I hope it will be a good year”.

Norrie: ‘I’ve learned that Argentinians can encourage a Briton’

Although he was one step away from winning the title -which would have been the fifth at ATP level of his career-, Cameron Norie He has taken many positive things from his time at the Argentina Open as he looks forward to what the rest of his season will be. It is a very special lesson.

“I’ve learned that Argentinians can encourage and support a British player, which is crazy,” he laughed, shortly after the final, where he had his own fans.

THE “Come on, chicken” (nickname given to him by the Argentines of his technical staff, his coach Facundo Lugones and his physiotherapist, the juninense Julian Romero) have filled the stadium on more than one occasion. And towards the end, when he approached the scoreboard and was close to taking the second set to the tie break, the classic was heard “Olé, ole, ole, ole… Norrie… Norrie…”.

The world number 12, eighth in September 2022, arrived in Argentina after a stint in Colombia, where the British team won the qualifying series of the Davis Cup before the locals. And he left very happy with his experience in our country.

“At the beginning of the week I wasn’t playing my best tennis, but I went from the bottom up. I think I reached my highest level in the semifinals,” he reflected, recalling the victory against the Peruvian John Paul Varillasthe big reveal of the competition.

“In the final I was also able to play very well sometimes. But after a good start, I went down a bit. And Charlie was better, he deserves the title. However, I managed to play once again in the final and this is always very good,” he continues.

And he added: “I was able to overcome difficult matches against good players on brick dust. This will give me an advantage to later face the European tour on brick dust, in which it usually takes me a while to find the rhythm. It will help me a lot also for my confidence”.

And that confidence will go a long way in trying to reach his big goal this year. “I want to get into the top 5. For that, I have to improve many things in my game and keep working. And everything I experienced this week here will help me a lot,” she assured.